The San Francisco Studio School represents a clearly defined, highly concentrated and contemporary approach to the study of fine art. Its program confronts substantial problems related to art education today by eliminating the fragmentation of continuity common in many degree-granting curricula. It emphasizes the development of the student's work based in visual principles and cogent responses to current issues in art.

The program demands meaning over the vagaries of the fashion-driven art market and at the same time rejects the formulaic and largely empty repetition associated with the academic approach to art. The overall philosophy of the school includes working from observation to intensify perception. This means the student will work intensely from the model, still life and landscape as well as from the imagination through the related mediums of drawing, painting, photography and mixed media. The form the artwork takes may evolve to be either realistic or abstract based on the individual artist's sensibility and emphasis.

The school is structured into three programs: 2-year Full-Time Certificate Program, the Associate-Study Program and the Advanced Master Project, where students may continue their study past the two-year certificate program to complete an advanced series of work building on their studies. This may take the form of completions of a new series of work, the production of a book or preparation for a show.

Full-Time Certificate Program

The full time certificate program develops over a two-year period of time. It is a serious and challenging program that should not be confused with adult education classes. It is comprised of studio work, critiques, drawing sessions, critical studies and visits to museums and galleries. Instructors are present during the week as appropriate to each area of study to present lectures, talk with students about their work, hold group critiques or to give demonstrations. Specific schedules are available upon registration. Periodically instructors accompany students to museums or galleries and at times they will work alongside students in the studios. The number of students in the program is strictly limited to ensure a highly focused and productive milieu, conducive to discourse and individual growth as artists. Depending on the semester focus and the dynamic of the group there will be approximately 15 students with no more than 20 students allowed at any given time. Acceptance to the program is contingent on space-available. Interested students should apply promptly.

Associate-Study Program

Associate Study supports students who are registered in degree-granting programs or who have full-time jobs preventing them from full-time study at the school. It is designed to give those students access to an experience of the unique qualities of the San Francisco Studio School on a once weekly schedule. Associate Study could be thought of as a hands-on seminar. It is comprised of slide shows, readings, discussions and an ongoing review of student's work throughout the semester. Two evenings are scheduled weekly, one for Associate Study for Painters, and another for Associate Study for Photographers. At times both groups meet together to benefit from the experience of seeing visual language expressed though different media. Students who are enrolled in a degree-granting program may be eligible for credit at the student's home institution. More detailed information is available in the FAQs or upon inquiry.

Advanced Master Project

At the completion of the two-year certificate program, some students may want to continue with their work within a project-specific venue. The Advanced Master Project allows complete concentration on the student's defined project, such as a new series of work, the production of a book or preparation for a show. In addition the student has the resources of the school's programs to draw on. The structure of the Advanced Master Project is determined with each student individually.




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San Francisco Studio School admits students of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin.